7 Obstacles To Change Success

What are the top 7 Obstacles to Change Success?

For change to happen successfully, it is important to identify the problems and potential blockages that can hinder its process. According to research across many top change management institutions, here are the top 7 obstacles to change success in an organisation 

1. Lack of Executive active sponsorship and support
2. Lack of clarity
3. Lack of effective communication
4. Change-resistant attitude and culture
5. Absence of organisational change buy-in
6. Inadequate resources
7. Change fatigue

1. Lack of Executive active sponsorship and support

Research has shown that active and visible executive participation greatly contributes to change success. Understandably, the lack of involvement and sponsorship of change in an organisation is a problem to its success. Employees mostly see the absence of executives as an indicator of how unimportant the change initiative is to the company. It is important for every important executive to visibly and actively participate in the process to make an example for employees to follow. 

2. Lack of clarity

Achieving a goal mainly depends on how clear and specific the end goal and performance indicators are. However, knowing what to work towards becomes impossible if the goal or vision is unclear and not communicated. Lack of clarity and uncertainty makes it harder for employees and the organisation to have a seamless change management process. A clear and detailed vision about all the current states, plans, transitioning methods, and other necessary information helps improve collaboration and achieve the goal that changes success brings. 

3. Lack of effective communication

Like everything else concerning teamwork and participation, communication is vital to execution. So, a major obstacle is the lack of proper and clear communication between everyone responsible for the change and its success. Lack of transparency and not following the hierarchy can make communication challenging, and spending more time on the wrong things, like clarifying what hadn’t been communicated clearly. 

4. Change-resistant attitude and culture

This stems from several issues, including employees and managers who are uninterested in changing traditional ways, having resistant behaviours, and repeated failed change plans. A culture resistant to change will cause problems as employees will majorly stay away from anything possessive, have personal agendas, participate in internal politics, etc. This is why change management sometimes involves a culture reset in an organisation, getting employees to see and act in new objectives and directions that can facilitate the change. 

5. Absence of organisational change buy-in

Of course, the people resistant to change are usually people who do not understand the change that is being planned. Because they are comfortable with current systems, they mostly rebel against new plans. This means they won’t be willing to participate and support the change, making it harder to achieve change success. This can be fixed by carefully demonstrating to these employees the importance of the change process and what it means for them.

6. Inadequate resources

An important factor that contributes to the success of the change management process is the availability of sufficient resources. Implementing changes necessary to move a company forward is more challenging when the necessary funding, tools and personnel are not available. This makes it harder to provide necessary training, make necessary technological updates, and allocate human resources as required. This causes delay and sometimes complete failure. It is important to plan the type of change management that fits the available resources to avoid failure or delays. 

7. Change fatigue

This occurs when change management is done too frequently, either simultaneously or back to back. A lot of organisations are guilty of implementing many change projects at the same time. However, this poses a problem as it directly affects employees and customers. Employees will have to adapt to too many things and changes, causing them to be overwhelmed and fatigued, which in turn reduces their productivity. It also affects customers as they don’t have time to adjust to external changes. It is important to conduct a change management process only when necessary, and each project should be adequately spaced to avoid burnout. 

Why pay attention to these obstacles?

It is easy, at first, to plan based on a fantasy and avoid planning around possible obstacles. But this will cost the company in the long run. Considering these barriers from the beginning of the process is essential. This is because these obstacles can affect the change management process, employees, and the company. Some of them include:

• Work Quality Decline
• Active and passive resistance
• Stress and fatigues
• Missed milestones
• Failed projects
• Morale decline
• Customer disappointment
• Damage to organisational reputation and culture
• Reduced employee retention rate
• Waste of resources.

How to overcome barriers to change success

• Proper planning and communicating a clear and detailed vision of the change management system, its results, and what is in it or employees
• Identify what specific barriers and reasons employees or the company culture is resistant to change
• Create strategic implementation frameworks such as SMART objectives and goals. 
• Allocate necessary information and resources as early as possible
• Review strategy and realign along the way during the change process
• Provide necessary training for every employee involved in the change process. 
• Identify and involve key sponsors and executives in the process as early as possible to increase their chances of participation. 

Conclusion

Change management and its success are important to move an organisation to a much higher point, and without it, growth is impossible. However, it is also important for the process to run as smoothly as possible. The only way this can effectively happen is by reducing the amount of possible hindrances and obstacles. Paying attention to and avoiding these obstacles is one sure way to increase the chances of change success in an organisation.

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